the Little Rabbit
by White Valentine
Summary: Ensnared by Shiva in the dead of winter...What will a Dog discuss with a Rabbit?


You're shivering.

And no wonder, really. You two burrowed in here to save yourselves from being frozen to death. Well...to save you, really, as with his unbeating heart, death isn't one of his top priorities; however, your health is. You've suggested using your Fire Materia to create heat, but he's shot that down (no pun intended, of course, Little Rabbit). Keeping a fire alive would require precious oxygen that you need. Oxygen, notably, that there is very little of in this hole you two currently sit in.

It was his idea after he calmed you~to dig under the snow and wait out the storm, as walking two feet anywhere in this blizzard could have either of you plunging off a cliff. So under the freeze you both went, and currently sit toe-to-toe, you internally cursing Shiva and he as stoic as ever.

"Vince."

He looks up at you, quiet sanguine bleeding into your large, dark hues.

"'M cold. Like, really cold. I can't feel m'fingers 'n' toes." Your usually boastful voice has quieted with sleepiness embued by the chill. Not good.

He raises his leather clad arm and unbuckles the top two belts on his ragged cloak and beckons to you in the faint glow beneath the white. You oblige by crawling to him in the cramped space as he undoes the top of his bodysuit.

"H-Hey! Just because you can't get over a hot chick like me doesn't mean you can get jiggy with it under her~mmph!" It's a chest that's silenced you, a strong, warm one...without a heartbeat. Your brunette head is forced through the opening at the collar of his cloak, and his mantle swirls around you, binding you to him, secured on the outside by two arms~one flesh and one metal.

"Tch. Please." His voice is as gravelly as ever, and his chest vibrates with the rumble of baritone. It tickles. "Very little of that area interests me any longer."

"Chaos seems to interest you plenty."

"Your point is?"

"...Geez. What a stiff."

"Do tell."

You roll your eyes. "Hey, shouldn't we not be talking? For oxygen or whatever?"

"Myth. Talking actually uses less of your air than breathing. Your exhales are longer with your voice. That's why it's harder to talk than breathe." Lie. But it keeps you calm and awake. So he lets it off his tongue.

"Huh. Well, you learn something new every day." You blink, your tiredness allotting his false words to slip by you. "Vincent...'M falling asleep. 'M not s'posed to do that, right?"

"No." His breath ghosts over your cheek, as close as you two are, what, with you snared by leather and velvet to a bare chest...covered in what feels like a large scar.

"Vincent...I'm scared. But don't tell anyone!"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"You better not..." You wrap your arms around his chest~just for warmth, of course. Come to think of it... "Hey...how come you're so warm but without a heartbeat? Does it have something to do with this big scar? What is it, anyway?"

He hesitates. Is it worth it, telling you? Does he trust you for that? "...The big one is an autopsy incision."

"Autopsy?! Like, dead people surgery?!"

He snorts. "More or less."

"Dude...I'm so glad that Hojo's dead. I woulda killed him m'self."

"Hn."

"..." You nudge your head to tuck under his. "He killed you, didn't he? And Lucrecia didn't really save you, did she?"

He stops. It's crossed his mind before~that maybe if the Beast, the Monster, the Insanity, and the Flight were removed, he would possibly die. "She both saved and cursed me. But for all purposes, I am politically a 'living corpse'."

"Whoa...does it hurt?"

"...Sometimes."

"And what would you do about it?"

"I dunno! But...maybe it'll hurt less with a friend nearby."

He starts. A friend? You? But Dogs do not become friendly accomplices with Rabbits. But then...why has he chose to share more of the depth of the Nightmare with you? "..."

You nudge him. You do exist, remember.

"Yuffie..." Best friend. Companion...

"A-Anyway! Wouldn't it be fun to think about people who're caught under the mistletoe?"

"Mistletoe? Huh..." A brighter topic would be welcome in this cold atmosphere. "Who do you suggest?"

"Cloud and Tifa. _Totally_ Cloud and Tifa."

He snorts. "That would be a sight to see. Hm...Cid and Shera."

"Cussing and tea. Everywhere."

He chuckles lowly. "I tend to agree."

"Hm...Dude. Me catching Red."

"I highly doubt he would be as amused as you are."

"Whatevs! It'd be funny!" You giggle, setting of small tremors against his skin. "Oh, oh, Vince! I totally see Marlene catching you while you brood in the corner."

"I _totally_ see Barret coming after me for that."

"Awesome! We need a shootout!" Speaking of gunfire...as soon as you quiet, sensitive ears pick up that stray sound above your ceiling of frost.

"It seems the storm has quieted. I hear Barret's gunarm above us."

"'Bout time! 'M freezing m'butt off down here! But how're we gonna get up there?" You look up in the darkness unfruitfully, seeing nothing but unintentionally bashing heads with your quiet companion. Hold on a minute... "Whoa. Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa." Your cold cheeks warm rapidly upon realization. "Were those, like, your lips?!"

"The last time I checked, they were called that, yes."

"You _are_ after me! I knew it!"

A soft sigh is heard and an ebony head is shaken, but he lets it go. An accident, so what?

"You...You better not tell anyone about that..."

A secret. Hm. "Do you barter, Miss Kisaragi?"

"What thief doesn't?"

"Then buy my silence with your own."

You blink. Buy his silence...? "You mean about your body? I wouldn't tell anyone about that! You trusted me with that information! If anyone else wants it they can ask you themselves!"

"...Thank you, Yuffie."

"S-Sure! C'mon, quit being so serious!"

His pale tiers twitch. Not a smile, but almost one. "Come on, Yuffie. Let's get out of here. What do you say to scaring Barret?"

A grin lights your face. "Let's do it."

And a while later, after Barret has been "knocked on his ass" from a glinting claw coming up through the snow not two feet from his own toes, after Cloud and he hold an argument with the Dog, after Tifa and Marlene have made hot chocolate for the pair of you, you, Little Rabbit, will bound up the stairs to take a warm shower. But just before, your eyes will catch and he will answer one of Denzel's questions: "So what happened in that hole you two were in?"

You will grin as his response grazes your ears.

"We kept warm."

And he will smile.


End file.
